Short Sleeves
by Skyward98
Summary: oneshot, after Bro Down. "I can finally wear short sleeves again!" What if this statement had meant more to Chase and the Davenports than anyone had let on? What if Chase's wearing of short sleeves meant hope of healing and progress from a horrible self-harm addiction? What if I actually stop asking questions so you can start reading? R&R!


**I've already written one of these, but I watched Bro Down again recently, and something Chase said got me thinking, and we all know that's never good. Enjoy! WARNING: SELF-HARM, THOUGHTS AND MENTIONS OF SUICIDE.**

Short Sleeves.

Chase stood at the coffee pot the morning after the attempt to get Adam rejoin the team had gone horribly awry, almost suffocating Chase in his own capsule. "Morning Chase." Mr. Davenport greeted the fifteen year old bionic boy.

"Good morning, Mr. Davenport." Chase returned the greeting with a grin, and sat down at the kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee, brewed the way Chase likes.

"You're still in short sleeves." Davenport noticed. The second youngest in the Davenport household was dressed in a dark grey t-shirt with short sleeves, dark blue jeans and sneakers.

"Yeah, Adam didn't get a chance to start wailing on me yesterday after what happened. Bree and Leo took the ex-dangerphobe to see a movie." Chase explained.

Davenport sat across from him with his own mug. He grinned lightly and gently. "Not what I meant."

Chase's green eyes widened and he started to fidget uncomfortably. "W-well, I, I th-thought-_oh_." Davenport nodded.

"Chase, relax. No one in this house has more of a right to wear short sleeves than you do." Davenport soothed the youngest bionic. Chase winced and looked down, his eyes burning. "I'd thought, after what happened yesterday, that you might-"

"I almost did." Chase whispered. "I-I wanted to-and-and none of you were-were around, s-so."

"What stopped you, Chase?" Davenport asked gently. "What kept you from picking the razor, or knife, up and cutting again?"

Chase was an ex-cutter. Scars from his past self-harming lined his wrists, and there were a few on is upper arms, because he'd ran out of skin to slice. He hadn't made a cut in six months, and some of the scars were starting to fade, emotional and physical.

Davenport shivered inwardly, remembering the day they had discovered Chase's cutting problem.

_Flashback_

_"Chase, come on! Your taking forever moron! I have to pee!" Adam shouted, kicking lightly on the locked door._

_"One-one second Adam!" Chase's shaky voice exited the bathroom. Please go away, please go away, please go away! Chase prayed silently, his hands shaking violently as he slit his wrist again, not even wincing at the pain._

_"Okay." Adam paused patiently. Chase breathed a sigh of relief. "One!" Adam judo kicked the door to the bathroom open, the door flying off its hinges. Chase screamed in fear. "I need to-Holy bionics!" Adam yelled in shock. "MR. DAVENPORT! GET IN HERE!"_

_"Adam, no! Please!" Chase begged, rolling down the sleeves of his indigo hoodie and tears rolling down his pale cheeks. "Pl-please!"_

_"Please my ass!" Adam snarled. Chase tried to run for it, tried to get away from his pissed off older brother and the soon to-be-discovery that would be made by his dad/boss/creator, but had forgotten that Adam had been granted super human strength, and could be stubborn when he wanted to be(which was most of the time.). "Oh, no you don't!" Adam's arms encircled Chase's torso and prevented the boy from leaving. "MR. DAVENPORT!"_

_"Let me go, please. Let me go." Chase sobbed, struggling weakly againsthis brother's hold. Adam only held on tighter. "Let me go." He started hyperventalating once he heard the hurried footsteps of the owner of the house coming their way. He elbowed Adam in the stomach; the eldest bionic dropped his arms out of pain. Chase bolted down the hallway with a speed that could rival Bree, and right into Mr. Davenport._

_"Chase- WHAT THE HELL?" Davenport shouted, discovering the mangled and sliced arms of his youngest. Chase collapsed against Davenport, sobbing relentlessly._

_"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Chase hiccuped, tears soaking his flushed face and his nose running a mile every second due to his super senses. "Don't...d-don't, I'm sorry!"_

_End Flashback_

"The promise I made to all of you." Chase muttered. Davenport and the others had made him swear to let Davenport check his arms whenever he wanted, one more cut, and the boy would lose his position on the team, and his rank as Team Leader. "B-But, I, I was so close to breaking it yesterday, Mr. Davenport. I wanted to _so badly_, after what happened. Th-that pr-promise was the only thing that stopped me."

Davenport stood and sat closer to his youngest, putting his arm around Chase's shoulders and pulling him close. "I'm proud of you, Chase."

With tears in his wide green eyes, Chase looked incredulously at Davenport. "Pr-Proud of me? _Proud of me?_ You-you should be furious with me! I-I almost cut yesterday! I held a razor to my wrist and nearly sliced! _Why the hell are you so proud of me when I nearly damaged the team?!_"

"But you didn't." Davenport said simply, gently. Shock overcame the pale face of the youngest Davenport. "You didn't Chase. _That's _why I'm proud of you. Very easily could you have made that cut and relapsed, but you didn't. You persisted, Chase." The tears fell onto Chase's cheeks. Davenport hugged him close. "And you didn't nearly damage the team, Chase. _WE _nearly damaged _you _beyond repair. As much as I wish that day six months ago never happened.." Chase buried his face into Davenport's shoulder and waited to be ripped a new hide. "I'm overjoyed that it did."

"You-you are? _Why?_" Chase started to sob.

"It allowed us to see what we've all done wrong to you, Chase, and allowed you to start healing. You're still damaged, Chase, and perhaps a part of you always will be. But that day six months ago you began to let us pick up your broken pieces and putting them all back in order." Davenport explained softly, squeezing Chase gently. These momenta displays of affection used to be a rare occurrence, but since the discovery about Chase, Davenport had started to try to be more of a father than a boss. It pained the CEO that the discovery about his baby had to be thing to open his eyes and let him see that they weren't just bionic soldiers and heroes, they were kids. His kids. Who he'd seriously let down. Chase was the prime example. "Chase, I gotta apologize to you buddy."

"What? Why?" Chase demanded, his eyes red and puffy.

"I'm part of the reason why you started cutting, Chase. If I'd seen earlier that you were still kids, still are kids and my kids, maybe you could've felt that you could've come to me and not started self-harming. So, I'm sorry. So sorry, bud." Davenport's brown eyes were full of remorse. "And I'm also sorry that it took this discovery," He held up Chase's wrist. "For me to open my eyes. It shouldn't have taken that for it to happen. I'm a terrible boss, and dad. I failed you, Chase, and I'll always regret it."

New sobs tore out of Chase's throat, and he buried himself deeper into Davenport's arms. "D-Da-Dad, I-I-" Chase choked out between cries.

"Shh, I got you, Chasey. I got you." Davenport soothed, running his fingers through Chase's bronze hair and rubbing circles into his back. "It's okay, you'll be okay. Just let it out." Chase's body shook with sobs, and Davenport couldn't help but think _When was the last time I held Chase like this, and gave him a chance to break? Not since the discovery, most likely. _

_Flashback_

_"I'm sorry, I just...I don't know what to do anymore.." Chase croaked as Davenport wrapped his injured wrists with gauze. "More times than not, I wonder if it's all really worth it..."_

_Bree gasped. "Chase, please tell me you're not..." Chase nodded, and the tech mogul's blood turned to ice._

_"Come here, Chase." Davenport sat back down on the sofa and opened his arms to the youngest Davenport. Chase hesitated, the slowly lowered himself in his boss's arms. He was surprised when Davenport held him tightly to his chest, but not uncomfortably. Another pair of arms went around Davenport and Chase, and Bree put her head on the back of Chase's shoulder. Chase started to tremble, trying to hold it all in. Adam joined in, then Leo and Tasha. "It's okay, Chase. Let it go."_

_Chase froze in shock, then tears began to build up. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to force them back. He was losing the fight for control steadily. It didn't help that the rest of them started murmuring encouragements. His body shook. "Let it go, Chase. We've got you, little guy." Adam said comfortingly. The rope snapped._

_Chase broke. Screaming out his sobs, he collapsed in their arms, clinging to Mr. Davenport. Tears leaked into his hair, but he didn't see where from. "We've got you, buddy. We've got you." Davenport murmured, his own tears making his voice crack._

_"And we won't ever let you go." Bree agreed softly._

_"Never, Chase." Leo nodded. "We love you Chase."_

_"And we always will." Tasha agreed. Adam only nodded. Chase only cried harder._

_End Flashback._

Short Sleeves

The others came up to the living room to fid Davenport and Chase snuggled up together on the sofa, watching a movie on the flat screen. "Hey guys." Davenport greeted. Huge smiles erupted on Leo, Adam and Bree's face.

"What?" Chase grinned back. All three shared a look.

"I want a Chase-cuddle!" Leo shouted, bolting over and jumping in next to Chase, making the youngest bionic laugh.

"You got the last one!" Bree yelled at him, super speeding over, pushing Leo out of the way(where he landed on the floor with a thud.) and snuggling up next to her little brother. "It's _my turn _to cuddle with Chase!" A heavy blush was coating said brother's face. Never did he imagine that his brothers and sister would be fighting over whose turn it was to cuddle with him. Adam watched the whole thing with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I get Da-Mr. Davenport!" Adam covered up his slip and hopped in beside Donald.

"Foul play Bree!" Leo hollered, getting up from the floor. "It's called _sharing_!"

"I don't wanna share my baby brother though!" Bree whined, snuggling closer to Chase. "He's _my _brother!"

"Uhh, he's my brother too, so share!" Leo griped, plopping in between Chase and Bree.

"You aren't sharing though!" Bree argued, hitting Leo with a pillow. "You're _hogging_!"

Davenport, Chase and Adam laughed at them.

Soon, a comfortable arrangement was made where Leo and Bree were in beside Chase, and the five of them fell asleep on the sofa. Tasha grinned at the sight.

_Flashback_

_"We'll help you Chase, we'll get you through this." Leo told his older brother in the lab. He squeezed his shoulder._

_"Yeah, Chase. We won't leave you alone to suffer again." Bree agreed. Adam nodded and grinned._

_"We'll be here, Chase, we'll always be here." Adam hugged his little brother. Chase grinned weakly. "You'll be back in short sleeves in just a little while, just you wait."_

**There we have it! I hope you enjoyed Short Sleeves!**


End file.
